F1 Fan Hit By Debris From His Favorite Driver, Doesn't Get To Keep It

An F1 fan at this past weekend's Australian Grand Prix — which was insane, by the way — was hit by debris from his favorite driver's car, leaving him with a laceration on his forearm.

No, he didn't get to take home the piece of debris either.

The incident happened on Lap 54 when Haas' Kevin Magnussen clipped one of the walls around Melbourne's Albert Park Circuit which shredded his right rear tire of VF-23.

It looks to have shredded the wheel rim too. You can see what looks like a piece of the outside edge missing, but we know it came off because it wound up in the crowd.

According to Australian TV reporter Teegan Dolling, the piece of shrapnel hit F1 fan Will Sweet square in the forearm.

Conincendeitnally, she reported that K-Mag is Sweet's favorite driver (although in that case, the Mercedes shirt is rather interesting).

Sweet Didn't Get To Keep The Shrapnel That Hit Him

Unfortunately, Sweet didn't get to take the piece of wheel rim home as a memento. No, it wasn't because Haas wanted it back to help them stay under the budget cap (they don't need help with that anyway) it was because other fans took it.

That's poor form. There's an unwritten rule that if you stop a piece of racecar shrapnel with your body you get to keep it. That's worse than catching a puck or a foul ball and not handing it to the kid or hot chick sitting behind you. you just don't do it.

Although, maybe the rules are different in Australia. Winter is summer and summer is winter down there. The water drains clockwise too, at least that's what I learned from The Simpsons.

Here's to a speedy recovery for Will Sweet. Also, let this be a reminder for all race fans to pay attention anytime there are cars on the track.

Follow on Twitter: @Matt_Reigle

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Matt is a University of Central Florida graduate and a long-suffering Philadelphia Flyers fan living in Orlando, Florida. He can usually be heard playing guitar, shoe-horning obscure quotes from The Simpsons into conversations, or giving dissertations to captive audiences on why Iron Maiden is the greatest band of all time.